Apropos VPNs
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/vpn-firm-says-it-didnt-know-customers-had-lifetime-subscriptions-cancels-them/
The new owners of VPN provider VPNSecure have drawn ire after canceling lifetime subscriptions. The owners told customers that they didn’t know about the lifetime subscriptions when they bought VPNSecure, and they cannot honor the purchases.
In March, complaints started appearing online about lifetime subscriptions to VPNSecure no longer working.
The first public response Ars Technica found came on April 28, when lifetime subscription holders reported receiving an email from the VPN provider saying:
To continue providing a secure and high-quality experience for all users, Lifetime Deal accounts have now been deactivated as of April 28th, 2025.
A copy of the email from “The VPN Secure Team” and posted on Reddit notes that VPNSecure had previously deactivated accounts with lifetime subscriptions that it said hadn’t been used in “over 6 months.” The message noted that VPNSecure was acquired in 2023, “including the technology, domain, and customer database—but not the liabilities.” The email continues:
Unfortunately, the previous owner did not disclose that thousands of Lifetime Deals (LTDs) had been sold through platforms like StackSocial.
We discovered this only months later—when a large portion of our resources were strained by these LTD accounts and high support volume from users, who through part of the database, provided no sustaining income to help us improve and maintain the service.